Review of "Bernard and Doris"

Having been a long time fan of Doris Duke... She was a fascinating woman but I don't think any filmmaker could ever really capture what made Doris so interesting. Maybe in a 20 hour mini series? In 1999 there was another made for TV movie called 'Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke,' based on the book of the same title by her cousin, Pony Duke, with Lauren Becall as older Doris (with 'Heroes' star Hayden Panettiere as 10-12 year old Doris!). This one didn't quite work either. There are a few good bios for anyone really interested in the wild, wonderful, yet sadly tragic life of one of Americas great personalities. I don't recall the police ever dismissing the idea of Lafferty having a heavy hand in the death of Doris. He wormed his way into her life. Kept her family, friends, and doctors away from her. Drugged her. Didn't allow her phone calls. Ya think Britney was the first? And for the finale: Laffery had Doris cremated withing hours of her death despite her well known, life long fear of fire. She did not wish to have her body burned (tho, years before she had said she wanted her body dumped in the ocean and eaten by sharks). I will check out this new flick out of curiosity. A great cast and an intriguing character but my expectations are low. To learn more about Doris Duke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Duke The More You Know...!!!

PS: I've always thought Marcia Cross and Missi Pyle both have a natural young Doris Duke look.

Ollie I GREATLY ENJOYED Bernard and Doris so I was dissapointed that Editor Michael Jensen's accurate-but-bland review was not more enthusiastic. This is a very warm movie that I feel should be on everyone's MUST SEE list. I am even planning a party for a future showing on HBO. (It was made for HBO so this is the only place you can see it for a while).

My partner Tim and saw this last night. Big kudos to Sarandon and Fiennes for great performances, but the story itself kind of dragged on. Where's the high drama and interesting plot? At one point I mentioned it was sort of like a boring mash-up version of Mommie Dearest and Gosford Park, but with much less storyline and no wire hangers. Then Tim pointed out there's no child abuse in this film; I conceded his point, and muttered something about domestic help abuse, but I guess it was justified if the maid was schtuping her Lenny Kravitz-looking gigilo/musician. At any rate, we were both disappointed with the movie.